Newsletter No - Blue Mountains Association of Cultural Heritage ...

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Continued from page19 The Woodford precinct of the Cox’s Road route does not feature highly in diaries of the period, mainly due to it being a largely featureless track along a narrow rocky ridge with little requirement for construction works. However some small snippets are recorded. It should be noted that the Woodford precinct may also include the Caley’s Repulse site, as documented by Allan Searle in his “Historic Woodford and Linden” 1980. He believed that a site in the vicinity of the Woodford trig was a truer site which conformed to all written descriptions of it. However, in this report Caley’s Repulse is not included, being treated in the history of the Road as a separate precinct. ‘Woodford stretch not the most comfortable for travellers...’ The following extracts are taken from records of the time contained in Fourteen Crossings of the Blue Mountains, all observations being immediately followed by an approach to a “pile of stones”. It appears that the Woodford section of the road was not the most comfortable section for travellers! Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth - May, 18 1813 ...to Mark and Cut a passage for the Horses through the brush returned to their Camp – very tired and out of spirits -...along a very narrow ridge not more than fifteen or twenty yards over... Assistant Surveyor Evans - November 21 ...travelled on mostly Ridges overrun with Brush... William Cox - August 18, 1814 ...and just entered a scrub with stunted timber..... The stonemason went forward to examine a rocky ridge about three miles ahead, and on Monday he will go there to work to level them. A portion of the Cox’s Road near the Woodford trig where carved into the rock is a kerb on either side, both sides, a clear indication that Macquarie’s order to Cox to build a road “so that two carriages may pass side by side” was adhered to by Cox. Governor Lachlan Macquarie - April 27, 1815 ...At a further distance of four miles a sudden change is perceived in the appearance of the timber and the quality of the soil – the former becoming stunted, and the latter barren and rocky. At this place the Country became altogether mountainous, and extremely rugged... Major Henry Colden Antill - April 27, 1815 ....Our Road was stony, and some very severe and short hills for the loaded carts........ Quoy, Gaudichaud and Pellion – 1819 ...Soon we saw the ground change and the road, although still well kept, became rather less easy on account of the inequality of the ground. The masses of sandstone show bare here almost everywhere; the vegetation is poor; and at the bottom of great valleys right and left, tower these vertical and natural walls of rock, for a long time insurmountable barriers, which caused the failure of so many enterprises to seek a passage through the Blue Mountains. References: Fourteen Journeys Over The Blue Mountains of New South Wales 1813-1841 Collected and Edited by George Mackaness, Horwitz Publications Inc Pty Ltd 1965 A Historical and Archaeological Study of Cox’s Road and Early Crossings of the Blue Mountains, NSW, Grace Karskens 1988, for Crown Lands Office, Sydne Historic Woodford and Linden 1980, Allan Searle About the author Patsy Moppett has worked as a town planner and heritage officer in local government in the central west of NSW for some 22 years, her work including management of heritage programs, heritage advisory service, heritage committee and local heritage funds. She has also worked in private consulting, undertaking planning, heritage and environmental research and reporting. She has a Bachelor of Town Planning Degree and a Diploma in Conservation and Land Management, and has completed other courses related to heritage, planning law, property planning, the environment and permaculture. Patsy undertakes history and heritage research and report writing, having written the book “A History of Cow Flat”. She is currently working on a history of the Lower Turon goldfields, and various family history projects. Patsy is convenor of the Cox’s Road project Committee, which was formed to undertake the listing of the road on the State Heritage Register. Under this Committee she has assisted in the preparation of reporting for the NSW Heritage Office. HERITAGE 20 November - December 2012
Oldest grave in the Blue Mountains by Peter Chin --- president, Springwood Historical Society PARTLY hidden in the shade of a large tree in a remote part of Springwood Cemetery is the grave of Private Francis Smith, one of the earliest known European to die and be interred in the Blue Mountains. From the opening of the Western Road over the Mountains in 1815 until the late 1830s travellers were required to have a permit from the governor to travel to the west in the interest of controlling settlement in the Bathurst region. In 1878, in response to a parliamentary enquiry, it was reported that a solitary soldier’s grave was located near the site of the old military post but that the headstone “is broken and supported by a sapling.” To enforce this regulation small military posts, manned by three or four soldiers, were established at points along the road. From November 1815 there was a post at Springwood somewhere in the vicinity of the present Macquarie monument in Macquarie Road which was relocated in 1833 to a site on what is now the Springwood Mews in Ferguson Road. Private Francis Smith was a member of the 4 th King’s Own Regiment which was stationed in New South Wales from 1832 to 1837, and with probably three other soldiers manned the Springwood military post. Smith had joined the regiment in 1813 and served in the Peninsula War, the war against the United States in 1814 and later in the West Indies before returning to England. He arrived in Sydney in 1832 and was located at various posts in Sydney and the Blue Mountains before coming to Springwood in January 1836. Private Smith died at the Springwood post on May 5, 1836 from causes unrecorded. Because this was the only European settlement in the area he was buried in the bush near the post. A headstone bearing the following inscription was placed on the grave: Sacred to the memory of Francis Smith Who died May 5 th 1836 aged 43 years having served for 25 years as a soldier in H.M. The King’s Own Regt. Sad to relate, the headstone remains in that condition. In 1886 Springwood Cemetery was established and the Church of England portion consecrated and in use by 1887. It was probably not long after this that the remains of Francis Smith were exhumed and re interred in this section of the cemetery (grave No.91) and marked by the broken headstone and foot stone. While Private Smith’s grave lies almost forgotten in Springwood Cemetery a monument to the memory of this earliest of our European inhabitants was erected in the small park in the front of Springwood Civic Centre in May The Kings Own Regiment in which Pte Smith served was an infantry regiment of the line of the British Army, which served under various titles from 1680 to 1959. Its lineage is continued today by the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment . It saw service for nearly three centuries. In 1751, after various name changes, the regiment was titled 4th (King’s Own) Regiment of Foot. The regiment retained this title until 1881 when it became The Private Smith’s broken headstone which is now shaded under a tree in Springwood cemetery Photograph by John Leary, October 2012 1990 and unveiled by Brigadier DJ McLachlan, Commander of the 2 nd Military District, assisted by 15 months old Nathan Dubber of Tweed Heads, Francis Smith’s youngest direct descendant. It is to be hoped that action will soon be taken to restore Private Smith’s headstone since its broken condition was first recorded 134 years ago. The King’s Own Regiment King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment). In 1921, it was redesignated The King’s Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster). After partcipating in every major conflict in the late 17th an 18 th centuries the regiment saw colonial service in Australia from 1832 until 1837, being stationed variously at Tasmania, Sydney, Victoria ,South Australia, and the Swan River Colony under the command of Lieut. Colonel J. K. McKenzie. Footnote --- John Leary, OAM HERITAGE 21 November - December 2012
Page 1 and 2: HERITAGE NEWSLETTER OF THE BLUE MOU
Page 3 and 4: CENTENARY OF LOCOMOTIVE DEPOT VALLE
Page 5 and 6: ‘Like a handshake across the cent
Page 7 and 8: Continued from page 6 There is an a
Page 9 and 10: Continued from page 8 From 1861 to
Page 11 and 12: Heritage farming project wins prest
Page 13 and 14: The Yeomans’ project ... art, far
Page 15 and 16: New system aimed at removing local
Page 17 and 18: Grace Karskens’ study, first to b
Page 19: One of the best preserved sections
Page 23 and 24: Continued from page 22 James and Ed
Page 25 and 26: MONUMENTS AND MEMORIALS OF LATE I h
Page 27 and 28: In brief...... Valley Heights 2013
Page 29 and 30: Western crossing commemoration 2013

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